Category: Art & Architecture

John Henry Newman’s longest poem, The Dream of Gerontius, is a spiritual work rich in theology. Composed at the time in which he had the presentiment of an impending death, the reality of Last Things was very present to the author. The poem, written in 1865 when Newman had been a Roman Catholic for twenty […]

It wasn’t until November 2012 that I visited my first art museum. Once before, as a college senior and tourist to Chicago, I attempted to visit the Chicago Art Institute, but the price of admission deterred me as a struggling college student. I have visited several art museums since that initial visit and each has […]

The Arts remind me there is still sanity and beauty in an insane and ugly age. Despite living in the darkness of a culture of death — where children are sacrificed by abortion on the diabolical altar of sexual licence, and defeated sick and disabled people are eliminated by euthanasia — the Arts speak to […]

The arts are as important to education as math, science and language. In many ways the arts are a language capable of expressing the inexpressible human heart or the beauty of the world. The arts can express the dignity and worth of man and glorify God; this is art in its highest form. The arts […]

The arts can nourish the human heart and soul and help to build character. Whether dance, music, theater, visual or literary arts, students must approach their chosen art-form with commitment, focus and discipline. Talent and Discipline What about talent? Talent is a gift, the source of inspiration and insight and is crucial to achieve excellence. But it’s […]

Vincent Van Gogh’s career as a painter began when he was 27 years old and lasted a brief ten years, ending with his suicide. His works are, perhaps, better known than those of any other painter and yet during his lifetime he was virtually unknown. He suffered from mental illness.[1] His mental illness drove his […]

My college training was in radio and television arts. I love the arts, particularly with Christian themes. I came across an excellent production of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor (Capella Reial Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations conducted by Jordi Savall). The setting is the French Abbey Church of Saint-Savin Sur Gartempe. Superb location, the performers, […]

In the small Canadian prairie town where I grew up there is an arts centre named after my mother. The Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre is dedicated to the performing arts. At center-stage sits a grand piano like a tribute to her. My mother taught piano for 60 years. Even at the age of 93 years, […]

News that eleven of the late Jack Kevorkian’s paintings are up for sale in Los Angeles—at “upward of $45,000 per canvas”—are a reminder that long before there was Kermit Gosnell, there was Jack Kevorkian. Whereas abortionist Gosnell was angered when the Philadelphia Attorney General called his abortion clinic a “House of Horrors,” Kevorkian (a publicity […]

The works of William Shakespeare abound with the truths of the Catholic faith. Especially in his later plays (often called the “romances”), Shakespeare focuses his poetic imagination on the mysteries of grace, redemption, and resurrection. The results are surprising, strange, and wonderful stories that can do far more than entertain us. When he needed to […]

What does a saint look like? We have our preconceptions: Saints are serene, eyes cast downward, hands folded in prayer. Saints flash joyful smiles while reaching out to help the poor and needy. Saints stand bravely against the enemies of the Gospel, praying as the bullets or the machete or the poison claims their bodies, […]

Intricate details and deep meaning characterize Daniel Mitsui’s religious art, which he renders by hand using ink on paper or vellum. Mitsui draws biblical subjects and saints according to the conventions of traditional iconography. More than being just representations of scenes and persons, Mitsui’s works are visual theological treatises. For example, his Pentecost shows not only tongues […]

Since the last installment, a gentleman who read these articles made the following observation about architecture. He said there are two “courts.” One that is ‘modern’ and the other that is ‘historical.’ He justified having a preference by saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” He also made the point that there are […]

Scrapbooking is one of my passions. It’s no surprise; when I was a young child my father (a history teacher) dubbed me the “family historian”. I have always been fascinated with family relationships and their history. When I discovered scrapbooking twelve years ago, I jumped at the chance to document my family history while exercising […]

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. Other than recalling a fragment of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wonderful, if historically inaccurate poem, many Americans, myself included, do not know much […]

It is impossible to discuss Renaissance architecture without discussing Leon Battista Alberti. He is hailed as the quintessential Renaissance man, and I suppose he is. He was very worldly. The illegitimate son of Lorenzo Alberti, it seems that he had a serious inferiority complex and set out early to prove his worth. One could say […]

This article focuses on the meaning and uses of the term “tradition.” The next article will speak of the serious error of nostalgia as a motivation for design. I believe it was C.S. Lewis who coined the term “verbicide”. The meaning and significance of the words “tradition” and “nostalgia” have both suffered from this. Here […]

The first step in renewing architecture in the Catholic Church is to make a commitment to the truth. As the Church teaches, Truth is a person, not a concept. We know the “Truth will set us free,” and so it is our desire to be free from any and all erroneous beliefs that enslave us. […]

There are strong feelings being expressed about church architecture today. It is my hope in writing these articles that the reader will feel empowered to think for himself and not feel obligated to follow directions established by art and architectural historians who intentionally and sometimes unintentionally use their ‘special’ language and terminology to make the […]

Andrea Maglio-Macullar is a Catholic artist whose religious art has appeared in many venues, including publications by Loyola Press and Our Sunday Visitor. Her art is bright, colorful, and eye-catching. Many of her pieces have a stained-glass quality to them which makes them very appealing. Maglio-Macullar has been drawing since she was a young child. […]

Still pining over our combined pilgrimage-vacation to Rome last year, my wife and I decided to participate in the Year of Italian Culture 2013 at the National Gallery here in Washington, D.C. There we were able to gaze upon Michelangelo’s David-Apollo, which is on loan to the Gallery from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, through March 3. […]

On October 31, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI observed the 500th anniversary of the Sistine Chapel by offering a prayer—celebrating Vespers beneath Michelangelo’s famed frescoes of biblical stories including, most famously, the Creation of Adam. The Holy Father called the chapel a “liturgical classroom,” explaining that “It is as if during the liturgical action, the entire […]

When that first soft cloud of pale green appears on the trees in Spring, I always try hard to comprehend the unimaginably high number of leaves there are budding into the world’s most sophisticated little nano-scale energy machines. It is truly a miracle of nature, and one that is so common all around us, it’s easy […]